Glendale Library, Arts & Culture and ReflectSpace Gallery are pleased to present (Be)Longing: Asian Diasporic Crossings, an exhibition that delves into the multi-generational afterlives of war and displacement and East-West Asian diasporic placemaking through maps, sculptures, photography, archives, video, and layered materiality. It features artists from Los Angeles, Korea, and China.

Anchored by the work of Los Angeles-based artists Annette Miae Kim and Kyong Boon Oh, (Be)Longing asks us to consider how diasporic histories and spaces are created and narrated. Can you draw the borders of belonging? How do you make a map of a transnational and borderless community? How much do histories of displacement and war enter the contemporary narrative of a community? What is the relationship of a diasporic community to its indigenous lands and history? Kim and Oh have family in both South Korea and North Korea, and these fraught familial histories brings a personal and poignant dimension to their work. They query and challenge our preconceptions about diasporas and borders through maps, archives, sculpture, and tactile materiality.

The exhibition, curated by Monica Hye Yeon Jun and Ara & Anahid Oshagan, includes artworks by: Annette Miae Kim, Kyong Boon Oh, Sun Siran, Xia Yan, Gil Woong Kim, Donah Lee, and Jennifer Cheh. All seven artists in the exhibition grapple with their diasporic histories and present-day and strive to articulate their own sense of being and belonging.

(Be)Longing will be on view through September 22, 2024. For more information, ReflectSpace.org/post/Be-Longing

PARKING